Subject: Re: Anyone read Gene Wolfe: Free Live Fr

From: Eric M. VAn <72717.3247 at compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 1990 20:37:43 +0000

Ahh, Free Live Free.  Give it a 3 for Wolfe, a 4.5 for the world at large.
By way of comparison, I'd give There are Doors a 2.5 and 4, respectively.
It's worth noting that Free Live Free is the Wolfe novel that There Are
Doors is most like -- easily -- but Free Live Free is much sunnier.
 
I thought it was a ton of fun.  I agree with the critical consensus that the
plot machinations, especially at the end, don't really add up/work.  The
Tor editions contain an appendix, a chronology to help explicate the
time-travel stuff, that Wolfe put together reluctantly at the request of his
editors.  Which is where I might point out that there's *two* versions of
the book: the original (and by Wolfe, preferred) from Mark V. Ziesing - a
handsome, oversize, illustrated hardcover ($45, and still in print), and
the later text in hardcover and paperback from Tor. The later version,
rewritten a bit by Wolfe at the request of editor David Hartwell, omits a
chapter and condenses the early action so as to get the mystery-novel plot
moving quicker.
 
I found neither point to be a problem in my first reading, by the
way, but that's probably because I knew and loved Wolfe and trusted him to
take me where he wanted to take me.  I think Hartwell was editing with the
new-to-Wolfe reader in mind, and was hoping that this could be a breakout
book for him.  (Ironically, it's his latest and weakest in years --
Castleview, which offers a gripping read, some typically amusing Wolfe
conundrums (and their concomitant loose ends and lacks of explanations) and
not much else -- that was an alternate choice of the BOMC).
 
As far as some of the other comments re Wolfe in this thread, I just have to
differ about Peace: I think it's one of Wolfe's three masterpieces, and
arguably the finest fantasy novel ever written (adjective chosen with care:
The Lord of the Rings remains the *greatest* fantasy novel ever written, I
think).  Last time I asked him, it was his own favorite of his books.
 
And we ought to mention the short story collections, all of which are
superb.  It's hard to imagine now, but back before The Book of The New Sun
there were those who wondered if Wolfe was another Bradbury or Ellison,
basically a short story writer (since Operation Ares was weak, The Fifth
Head of Cerberus actually three linked novellas, and Peace -- by most --
unread)!
 
[In defense of Operation Ares, we do have to mention that the MS. as
published was about half of what Wolfe wrote, and that the editing was
done rather rapidly by Gene -- if I recall correctly, that is.]
 
We should also mention Pringle's potato chips, since Gene, back long ago in
the real world, headed the team that designed the machine that makes them!
 
By the way, David Hartwell tells me that Gene is at work on a science
fiction novel that he (uncharacteristically, I might add) refuses to say
more about ... might this be the major Wolfe work we've waited for since
The Book of the New Sun? (There's another novel, a straight mystery he wrote
some years ago, that should be out within the next year.)
 
-Eric M. Van, 72717.3247 at compuserv.com  (You might want to e-mail me copies
of any direct replies; a usenet buddy forwarded me the thread so far)